Obtaining a Permit

Environmental Compliance Permits

The City requires an industrial Wastewater Discharge Permit Application from a Significant Industrial User (SIU) at least 45 days before they wish to dispose of wastewater.

Changes in Industrial Operations

All permitted industrial users shall report proposed changes in their operations in writing to Environmental Compliance for approval 30 days before those changes are implemented.

Changes include:

• A sustained twenty percent increase or decrease in production capacity or wastewater discharge.
• Additions, deletions or changes to processes or equipment.
• Experimentation with new processes, materials, chemicals, and/or equipment that may affect the wastewater discharged.

Industrial User Categories

• Class I-VI Permitted Industries
• Non-Significant Industrial Users (NSIU) are industries that do not require a Class I-VI Industrial User Permit or are not considered a restaurant.
• Restaurants are retail establishments selling prepared foods and drinks for consumption on or off the premises; including lunch counters and refreshment stands. Retail establishments, lunch counters, and drinking places serving prepared food and drink as a subordinate service incidental to their main operations, and institutional facilities (schools, hospitals, and jails), which serve food on the premises shall also be called restaurants.

Industrial User Permit Classes

In order to determine which permit application to complete, a brief summary of each industrial class is below:

• Class I Users have an annual average industrial wastewater discharge of 25,000 gallons or more per day. Significant Industrial Users and Categorical Industrial Users have a federally regulated process waste stream discharge.
• Class II Users have an annual average industrial wastewater discharge between 10,000 and 24,999 gallons per day.
• Class III Users have an annual industrial wastewater discharge between 1 and 9,999 gallons per day where the industrial discharge has the potential to adversely affecting the POTW operations or violate any pretreatment standard, prohibition, or requirement of Riverside Municipal Code Chapter 14.12.
• Class IV Users have a manufacturing or production process that generates wastewater and/or waste that is not discharged to the POTW due to the user’s reclamation, recycling, segregation, and/or offsite disposal of the wastewater and/or waste. Industrial users who are considered categorical, but do not discharge process wastewater to the sanitary sewer system will be issued a Zero-Discharger Categorical Industrial User Permit (Class IV).
• Class V Users have a temporary need to discharge wastewater to the POTW. The temporary period shall be from 1 to 180 days.
• Class VI Users haul wastewater by truck or other means from septic tanks, cesspools, seepage pits and private disposal systems.

Permit Fees

Permit fees are due and payable upon receipt of invoice from the City’s Finance Department. Do not enclose any money or checks to the Environmental Compliance Section with your permit application.